Well, it’s week six of the fantasy football season. You’re 0-5, and staring straight and the 5,000 points the Patriots D put up for your opponent this week. Time to pack it in for the season. Or time to funnel that degeneracy into daily fantasy football. It’s a lot of fun to jam your lineup full of studs, then see that you’re $15,000 over the limit. That’s where these bargain-basement values come in. These daily fantasy football dumpster dives come in at prices so low, these sites must be crazy!
Daily Fantasy Football Dumpster Dive Quarterback (Fan Duel):
Case Keenum versus Miami ($6,500)
I won’t belabor the point that I’ve already made in this week’s quarterback sleepers column, but Case Keenum seems like a tremendous value. He had 933 yards and seven touchdowns in his three healthy starts, and the Dolphins give up the most fantasy football points to quarterbacks. Sure, there’s the whole deal of “no healthy tight ends” and “the head coach has only been the HC since 5:00 on Monday morning,” and “he’s Case Keenum.” I hear you, I hear you. Still, Keenum is the nineteenth-cheapest quarterback on Fan Duel, and out of QBs actually starting this week, your only cheaper option is Josh Rosen. Gross. He’s functionally the cheapest QB, so lock and load if you want to jam multiple top-flight players into your Fan Duel lineup.
Daily Fantasy Football Dumpster Dive Quarterback (Draft Kings):
Andy Dalton at Baltimore ($5,400)
Ah, Andrew Dalton. I just can’t quit you. Dalton made me look silly in week four because I had the temerity to endorse the dreaded Prime Time Andy Dalton. Andy Dalton outside of prime time has had a pretty decent season. If you except the predictable implosion on MNF, Dalton’s averaged 310 passing yards and two touchdowns per game this season. This week, he gets a Baltimore defense that allows just 10.8” per play less than the offense everyone targets (Miami). Dalton clocks in as the fourteenth-most expensive quarterback in Draft Kings.
Daily Fantasy Football Dumpster Dive Running Back (Fan Duel):
Tevin Coleman at L.A. Rams ($5,000)
The minimum price for a running back on Fan Duel is $4,500, and those are the real dregs of the position. Guys like Taquan Mizzell Sr. and C.J. Ham. Another option in this game is Malcolm Brown ($4,800), but the 49ers have one of the stiffest defensive lines, so spend the extra $200 on Coleman. Coleman returned from injury last week to rush sixteen times for 97 yards and a score. He’s also the cheapest guy in San Francisco (Matt Breida is $5,900, Raheem Mostert is $5,700, and Jeff Wilson Jr. is $5,500).
Coleman isn’t the flashy guy, but he’s likely to get the goal-line work as well as working through with Matt Breida between the 20s. You can beat the Rams on the ground, as Chris Carson showed last week to the tune of 123 total yards. They’ve given up six running back touchdowns in five games, and the 49ers are the run-heaviest team in the NFL, especially when knocking on the door of the goal-line.
Daily Fantasy Football Dumpster Dive Running Back (Draft Kings):
Latavius Murray at Jacksonville ($3,700)
Alvin Kamara popped up on the injury report late in the week with an ankle issue, and he’s looking to be limited this week against the Jaguars. In steps Latavius Murray into a primo role for fantasy football scoring over the last decade or so. He should end up somewhere around 10-15 touches against a lacking Jaguars defense. On the season, they’ve allowed the eighth-most PPR fantasy football points to running backs. Last week, Christian McCaffrey tore them up, and it took Reggie Bonnafon just five carries to rip of fourteen fantasy points. Heck, they even made Damien Williams look like a viable fantasy football asset in week one.
Daily Fantasy Football Dumpster Dive Wide Receiver (Fan Duel):
Byron Pringle versus Houston ($4,500)
Pringle carries literally the lowest ownership, and you can accuse me of chasing production, but the situation hasn’t changed. It’s looking like no Tyreek Hill and no Sammy Watkins this weekend, which is the situation that allowed Pringle to flourish last week against the Colts. He’ll be the #3 wide receiver, but the Chiefs go three-wide 63% of plays, and 72% of passing plays this season. He’ll be on the field a bunch for a team that throws at the tenth-highest rate, so don’t worry about being the third WR for the Chiefs this weekend. The Houston defense so far this year allows the seventh-most fantasy points to wide receivers, including six touchdowns this season to the position.
Daily Fantasy Football Dumpster Dive Wide Receiver (Draft Kings):
Trey Quinn at Miami ($3,700)
I’m really putting a lot of eggs in the basket that is Case Keenum’s return as Washington’s starting quarterback. What’s the worst that could happen? Oh… that he remembers that he’s Case Keenum. In the first three games this year (the healthy Keenum games), Trey Quinn slotted in as a great PPR-league value. He had 13 catches in those three games (for only 33 yards per contest, which is why he’s PPR-only). This week, Keenum returns and he & Trey Quinn take on a downright terrible Miami Dolphins defense that allows the ninth-most fantasy points to wide receivers on the year. He’s the 54th-most expensive wide receiver on Draft Kings, so that should clear up a lot of cash for some superstar hammers to fill out your lineups.
Daily Fantasy Football Dumpster Dive Tight End (Fan Duel):
Geoff Swaim at New Orleans ($4,200)
Let’s get really crazy with it. James O’Shaughnessey is out for the year with an ACL tear, leaving the man he split targets with to soak up the volume. Swaim and O’Shaughnessey combined for seven targets a game. That’s a pretty useless number when split between two tight ends, but if you jam all those targets into one guy, you’re cooking with gas. The seven targets per game in one player would rank seventh on the year, right between Mark Andrews and Greg Olsen. The Saints allow the thirteenth-fewest fantasy points to tight ends but allow the eighth-most yards per tight end target. It’s just that nobody throws to the TE against them. Only Will Dissly had more than four targets against them, and he had 6/62/1. Geoff Swaim is $200 more than the minimum price. Let’s get nutty.
Daily Fantasy Football Dumpster Dive Tight End (Draft Kings):
Noah Fant versus Tennessee ($2,900)
Before Phillip Lindsay absolutely dominated last weekend, Noah Fant averaged four targets per contest. Now, normally, that isn’t a lot to try to hang your hat on. Sixteen targets through four games! Wowee zowee! How exciting! Look, you’re reading my article, cut the snark. I don’t need that from you. The Titans allow a touchdown at the third-highest rate in the league (one every ten targets, and most of that comes from Austin Hooper’s eleven targets without a touchdown). The Titans have allowed four touchdowns in five games, and unless you want to throw your chips behind Jeff Heuerman, then Fant is your man. He’s the twentieth-priciest tight end on DK, behind guys like Kyle Rudolph, Darren Fells, Irv Smith, and Tyler Higbee.
Daily Fantasy Football Dumpster Dive Defense (Fan Duel and Draft Kings):
San Francisco 49ers at L.A. Rams (FD: $3,500 / DK: $2,900)
The 49ers are the fifth-cheapest defense on Fan Duel and tenth-cheapest on Draft Kings. I have one word for you: takeaways. The 49ers rank third in the league in takeaways, behind a Patriots team that’s played the world’s easiest schedule and two more games than the 49ers at this point, and the Steelers, who got most of their takeaways against these Niners and have played one more game than San Francisco. The eleven takeaways the 49ers have this season equal the number of giveaways the Rams have (seven interceptions, four fumbles lost). The 49ers’ strength (pass rush) meets the Rams’ weakness (pass blocking) in what might be a statement game for these 49ers.
If these picks motivated you to start playing Daily fantasy, head on over to Draft.com. Make a new account, deposit $10, use the promo code ABSURDITY and you’ll get a free entry to a $3 tournament.
(Header Image Source: https://live.staticflickr.com/2662/4013883239_58498797b9_k.jpg by Jennifer Snyder, on Flickr under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en)
